By Jeff Black, msnbc.com
Fed up with police being dispatched to a Boston home for a stabbing, drug deals and prostitution, city officials have decided to install a huge lighted sign in front of the house meant to shame the owner into action.
Boston officials parked a trailer in front of the house in the Dorchester neighborhood that is equipped with a lighted sign like those seen along highways to alert drivers to road construction. In large lighted letters the sign reads, "Designated Problem Property."
"We’re going to do everything we can to shame these owners that are not responsive to cleaning up their properties,” Dot Joyce, a spokesman for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald, which reported on the sign Thursday.
The landlord of the multifamily home, Ed Franco, owes the city some $2,000 for trouble with this and other properties, officials told the Herald.
"It’s pretty awful of the city to do,” Franco’s attorney Stuart Schrier said, saying his client has moved to evict residents of the property.
It was unclear how long the sign would remain at the property.
The landlord’s attorney and a representative from the mayor’s office weren’t immediately available for comment to msnbc.com.
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